Publication of the first Swiss Football Study

The result of a joint venture between the Swiss Football League (SFL) and the Football Observatory of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), the first Swiss Football Study was presented at a press conference held on Wednesday December 12th at the headquarters of the SFL in Bern.

The report examines, in particular, the composition of clubs enrolled in the Raiffeisen Super League between 2009 and 2012. It focuses on the age, origin and club training of players. The performance analysis of Swiss passport holding players in the top five European leagues and decryption of results for Swiss clubs in European competitions completes the study conducted by the CIES Observatory.

Different trends have emerged from the report, including the importance of training for Swiss football and the failure to compete with foreign leagues from a financial point of view. Thus, the training and development of young talent seems to be the major asset of football in Switzerland compared to other European countries. This is a clear strategy followed by some clubs, such as the championship leader of Super League Grasshopper Club, whose squad is largely made up of hopes formed at club.

Analysis of the number of players playing in the Swiss foreign leagues only confirms the excellent quality of the training received. With 34 players committed abroad and given its population density, Switzerland ranks as the second largest, confirming the attractiveness of players trained in our country.